EDITOR WES RAYNAL: A nice little ute, by far the best small SUV to come out of General Motors ever. It looks terrific to my eye, and I like the interior, too. The materials look good but aren't (too many hard plastics). The sliding rear seat is helpful, expanding legroom for passengers.

There's plenty of power though the ute drives heavy, because it is. Why a truck this small has to weigh this much is beyond me. It doesn't feel quite as flingable as some of the other smaller utes like the Honda CR-V or the Toyota RAV4. It is, however, nice and quiet on the road and thus feels more refined than some of its competitors.

COPY EDITOR CYNTHIA L. OROSCO: I appreciated a weekend in the Equinox, as did my fiancé, who is looking at this small ute to replace his 2005 Equinox. His verdict: He wants it. We both liked the additional room the new Equinox provides, the user-friendly layout of the center stack, the easy-to-work navigation and entertainment functions. The back seat offers good legroom and headroom, although one passenger found the step-in a bit high. Also, there's good cargo space out back.

The V6 provides good power, but the truck did feel heavy sometimes, and I noticed the engine seemingly working hard to find/maintain the needed gear. It was the sensation of hesitation or lag; not terrible, but certainly noticeable.

I also like the exterior lines of this Equinox, which give it a sporty look. A new Equinox won't be debuting in our driveway this year, but maybe next year.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR ROGER HART: I like this ute, too. I like the size, the quietness, the overall interior design, and the overall look of the thing. I'm a little disappointed with the hard-plastic dash, although it has a pattern to it so it doesn't look all that bad until you start tapping your fingers on it. The driver's seat is quite comfortable and very adjustable, and there is decent rear-seat legroom.

The engine has decent power but I did notice the transmission shifting up and down quite a bit during my drive, trying to always be in the higher gear, but just a little throttle application necessitated a quick downshift to accelerate. That could get annoying.

SENIOR EDITOR FOR NEWS BOB GRITZINGER: Now that GM is building world-class vehicles such as this Equinox, the company can't complain when we point out some of the flaws. I also noted the tranny action, but mostly it was harsh shifts in manual mode that were most annoying.

The trucklet does feel heavy, and even more so when you punch that squishy brake pedal, but it does stop (evidence: minivan directly in front of me plowed right into the back of an F-150 pickup on the morning commute, and the Equinox stopped without any dramatics).

I found the vehicle quite comfortable, well-appointed for the money, highly stylish inside and out, and very competitive in the market.